Serendipitous Introduction
by Shutterbug5269
Summary: Six months after giving birth to Kate, Johanna takes a walk in Central Park and encounter a ten year old Richard Rodgers.
1. Chapter 1

April 12, 1980

Central Park Exercise Trail

Johanna Beckett was out pushing the baby carriage like she had been every day since the sun has begun coming out in earnest and the temperatures had finally hit the upper sixties. The past six months of relative inactivity during her maternity leave had been hard enough on a workaholic like her. Throw in the late night feedings, the bouts of colic and lack of sleep and she had become a wreck. Then being stuck indoors during one of the harshest winters since 1977 and she had been about to come unglued by the time March had rolled around.

She loved her little Katie-bug more than life itself, of that she had no doubt. She had known that as soon as her baby girl had been wrapped in a pink blanket and laid screaming in her arms this past November. She would not trade a single moment she had spent with Jim and their baby, but being stuck in the house for nearly six months with only marginal amounts of sleep and no coffee had nearly turned her into a basket case.

_"Thank God March went out like a lamb this year" _ She thought to herself, not for the first time. Incredibly thankful that it had felt warm enough to bundle Katie up and get some exercise without feeling like she was a terrible mother.

Every day she had agonized over the decision of stroller vs. baby carriage and went with the carriage every time. She could walk faster with the stroller...get more of a workout, but she simply could not help her desire to be able to look down into the cherubic face of her daughter...the life that she and Jim had created. To be able to touch Katie's little pink face whenever the mood should strike her.

_"Yes, I'm becoming one of _those_ mothers, but I don't care." _She mused to herself as she cooed and kissed Katie's forehead for the fifteenth time since leaving the house. She knew she was being obnoxious, but she just couldn't bring herself to care what other people thought of her.

She was bonding with her baby...creating a connection with Katie that she hoped would last all of their lives. Just like the ring Jim had put on her finger the day they married and the brand new expensive watch she had custom ordered to give to Jim for his first father's day were meant to signify the lifelong commitment between herself and her husband.

She had just turned off the running trail and entered one of the little playgrounds that dotted the park making a beeline for one of the benches when she started to hear a noise. She startled at first, concerned about the safety of her baby when she heard it again. A quiet sniffing and snuffling coming from under the slide. When she peeked around behind the ladder to the slide she saw the source...a little boy, who couldn't be more than ten years old, sitting underneath his arms wrapped around his knees trying not to cry.

His clothes were nice enough, so Johanna knew _somebody _took care of him, but he looked scuffed up. A bruise was forming over his right eye and there was a cut on his lip that looked like it had only recently stopped bleeding along with a collection of other bumps and scrapes. The boy had obviously been roughed up quite a bit and was trying to hide it.

Something snapped inside Johanna Beckett in that moment when the pieces came together, unleashing something primal that only a mother bear could understand. She tamped it down as best she could as she reached out her hand to the boy.

"Hey...what's wrong? Are you okay?" She said as quietly as she could, not wanting to startle him.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but mom said I'm not supposed to talk to strangers." The boy replied quietly. _"He's very articulate for a ten year old." _She thought to herself.

"My name is Johanna, I'm here with my daughter Katie...it's her first time out in the park."

Her admission, and the offer of her hand seemed to have the desired effect, and the boy put his hand in hers and let her pull him out from under the slide. Much to her relief he didn't seem too worse for wear once he was standing up, other than the injuries she'd already noted. Though a small part of her still raged that anyone would do this to such a beautiful, obviously sweet natured little boy. She had only been a mother for a few months but the mama bear in her was out in full fury...and this wasn't even her child.

"Are you hurt? Who did this to you?" She asked, her heart filled with motherly concern as she retrieved a moist towlette from her diaper bag and worked at cleaning his face, wiping the dried blood from his split lip and carefully cleaning around the bruise over his eye. She could see the small war going on in the boy's eyes as she cleaned him up, so she gave him time to make up his mind.

"The...the other boys at school...they don't like me...because I don't have a daddy." He finally whispered between sniffles, causing Johanna to nearly break down in tears. "They say mean things about my mom...behind her back."

Johanna Beckett couldn't help herself, she wrapped the poor boy in a hug before she even knew she was doing it. The little man had been defending his mother's honor and had obviously taken a beating for it. Judging by some of the healed over bumps and scrapes, it likely hadn't been the first time.

She took his hand and let him help push the stroller over to the swings where this whole mess had obviously started, judging from the boy's messenger bag and it's contents strewn all over the ground. Including what appeared to be a dog eared New York Public Library copy of "Casino Royale" which he very carefully picked up, inspected for damage and slid into the front pocket along with a small notebook and a pack of pencils.

_"Obviously his most prized possessions" _Johanna thought to herself as she noted everything else seemed to just be randomly shoved inside while she held it open for him before closing it and slipping the strap over his shoulder when he was done.

The boy thought about it before sticking his hand back out. "My name is Rick," he said quickly, but politely, "Rick Rodgers"

"Hello Rick, this little bundle of joy is my daughter Katie," she replied, running a finger over her daughter's face, "Katie Beckett"

Rick was quite the little charmer as he made faces at Katie, getting her to giggle which caused a warm feeling to settle over Johanna, that whomever his mother was, Rick was an even tempered good natured little boy who obviously loved his mother.

The moment was broken when a redhead in high heels, only marginally older than herself came bounding up to them, an expression of unconcealed panic on her face, obviously the boy's mother.

"Richard! There you are, I've been looking for you for ages since Florence called said you slipped away from her again!"

Johanna watched as the woman doted on the boy...alternating between hugging him tight and kissing him all over his face as she went through the very familiar litany of _"what happened? Who did this to your face? I'm so glad you're okay"_ she remembered well from her own mother. She'd been something of a tomboy herself growing up. The redhead looked familiar, but Johanna couldn't place her.

When Rick's mother was done, the woman rose to her feet and rounded on her, a look of abject gratitude on her face as her features broadened into a beaming, well practiced smile.

"Thank you so much for finding him, he means so much to me...He's all I've got!" The woman whispered in a hushed tone, the lingering terror and guilt over his injuries plain on the woman's face. It was another piece of evidence to show Johanna that he had likely come home from school like this before.

If there was one thing Johanna Beckett, attorney at law could not and would not abide, it was bullies...not when she was in school, and not in the courtroom as a defense attorney. She had always stuck up for the little guy. Only there was no one at school, sticking up for this little boy and it made her sick inside.

"My name is Martha Rodgers, what's yours?" She said.

It took Johanna a few moments to get her breathing under control. _"Martha Rodgers? _THE _Martha Rodgers? Holy crap!" _She thought to herself trying not to come off as an obsessed fan. Martha waited patiently, she seemed to be used to it by now.

"And who is this this precious darling little thing?" Martha said, as she leaned over the baby carriage, the mother in her coming out and cooing over Katie just like her son had done moments before. Johanna picked her up, partly out of protective instinct and partly to give Martha Rodgers a better look at her.

"This is my Katie, she's almost six months now, my name is Johanna, Johanna Beckett."

"Oh my, she's just precious!" Martha gushed, spilling naturally into talking motherhood with another woman, "No wonder you're out and about now that the weather is warmer, you must have been going crazy! I'm so glad i had Richard here in the spring, I would have lost my mind!"

They talked back and forth for several minutes before they both realized the time and bid each other goodbye. Johanna walked with Katie every day that the weather held and most of the summer, but she never saw Rick Rodgers again.

* * *

Over the years, Johanna Beckett would occasionally wonder what had become of the little boy she had met that spring. Twelve years later she was perusing Barnes and Noble and saw a familiar set of blue eyes on the back cover of a book titled "_In A Hail of Bullets_"

Once she read it, she knew she would buy every book he wrote, even though Katie rolled her eyes at her choice in literature. She had known he would make something of himself the moment she saw the book and the writing tablet in his bag that day. She couldn't have been more proud of him if he had been hers. The man who had risen from the bullied little boy she had met so long ago.

He didn't recognize her when he signed her copy, of _"In A Hail of Bullets_" but she had obviously made an impression.

_To Johanna,_

_You look at me like my mom did when I was ten. Keep fighting the good fight, Mother Bear._

_Richard Castle._

* * *

_*Author's note* This story started as a fluffy "what if?" kinda AU story that swiftly took on a serious life of its own as I went along. Bullying is a serious issue in our schools, in our society and on the internet. (Including here on ff...we've all seen some of the cowardly anon and not so anon reviews on here) If you see it, do something about it. Evil thrives when good men and women do nothing._

_**ERASE THE HATE.**_

_*steps off soapbox*_

_Mark_


	2. Postscript

_***Author's note* I had intended this to be a one shot, but people kept asking me to add more to this story, so here is this one post script. Break out the hankies girls. **_

* * *

**Postscript**

**April 18th 2014 **

Kate paced back and forth in the living room of her father's house, quietly freaking out. Once she told her dad that she and Rick had finally set a date for mid-May he had insisted upon hosting a family dinner with Rick and his family at the Beckett family house. To that end she had arrived shortly after lunch, groceries in hand, banished her father from his own kitchen and spent the bulk of the afternoon cooking, baking and trying not to have an anxiety attack.

She couldn't help but recall the last such dinner and its aftermath. How awkward it had been, and that had been just the four of them that night. How her dad and Martha's complete lack of anything in common had started her down the path of doubting her relationship with Rick, leading to her going behind Rick's back to DC instead of discussing it with him like she knew she should have, even back then. This time, on top of all of that, they were now throwing Alexis into the mix.

_"Thank god that whole mess with Pi is over and done with," _Kate thought to herself, _"tonight's gonna be awkward enough." _

When the doorbell finally rang at six o'clock, Kate was so worked up she nearly jumped out of her four inch stilettos. When her father answered the door it was, of course, Rick, Martha and Alexis. He took each of their coats and hung them up in the hall closet, then accepted the dessert Alexis carried (which Kate was certain was homemade) and the bottle of sparkling grape juice that Rick offered to him with true noblesse oblige.

"Thank you for inviting us, Mr. Beckett, it's nice to see you again, you have a very lovely home." Alexis said with a nervous smile, shooting a glare at her father and grandmother as if reminding them of their manners.

The parallel with the first time _she _had been to _their _home was not lost upon Kate as she wracked her brain trying to recall when her father and Rick's daughter could have possibly met before. Then realized to her shock that it had been the day of Roy's funeral, more specifically the direct aftermath of her shooting.

Suddenly the reason for Alexis' hesitation became stunningly clear.

"We're all going to be family very soon, please, call me Jim." Her father stated with calm grace, setting Alexis almost instantly at ease, earning a relieved smile from Rick. Obviously, Alexis had been worried about the outcome of this dinner every bit as much as Kate had been. Like herself, Alexis was the product of a broken home and a fractured family, with all of the social awkwardness, anxiety and self doubt that such a background entailed.

One of the things that first drew her to Rick...even when she still thought he was just an arrogant womanizing ass was that he was different with his daughter. That he gave Alexis the love and affection she wished her own father had been capable of after her mother's murder. The fracturing of _their _family hadn't broken the Castles like it had broken the Becketts. She envied Alexis a little for that stability, yet was grateful Rick's daughter hadn't had to suffer quite like she had.

Kate also noted that Jim and Martha seemed to be getting along well, much better than last time. Obviously the two of them had bonded over their only children's penchant for finding dangerous situations to get into together. She had seen it that night...and remarked on it...before running to embrace her dad.

* * *

Much to Kate's grateful surprise, the meal had gone off without a hitch. Due in no small part to the stabilizing influence of Alexis Castle. She and Martha complimented Kate often on the wonderful meal she had prepared. Jim was tireless in his praise of Alexis for the dessert she had provided.

The conversation had been kept light, with occasional teasing of the bride and groom to be, causing Kate to blush scarlet more than once when her father spoke of her early childhood exploits. Tales both Rick and Alexis had seemed to eat up, much to Kate's embarrassment. She forgot sometimes how much he liked to tease her. One of the traits the two most important men in her life shared.

After dinner, the five of them had moved to the living room for coffee, creating a much more relaxed atmosphere as Jim took over the duties of host from Kate, allowing her to relax on the sofa with Rick, while Martha and Alexis perused the photos on the walls and mantle. Photos Kate knew her father had only recently returned to their former customary places.

The two redheads were drawn to an image that once again had pride of place. A snapshot of a much younger Johanna Beckett standing next to a baby carriage with a newborn Kate in her arms. Martha was unusually quiet for a moment, gathering her thoughts, before waving Rick over to take a look with her.

"James, is this..." she began,

"Yes, Martha," Kate interrupted, a shadow of sadness darkening her features, "that's mom and...me."

Kate buried her face in Rick's chest, her heart drawn to the one person out of all the ones they had on either of their lists that she most wanted at their wedding and couldn't have. It left her emotional, just like it had when she first tried on the dress that would later become hers. Rick wrapped a comforting arm around her waist and ran a soothing hand through her hair as the feelings off loss and regret washed over her.

"I took that, oh it had to be April of 1980, I think." Jim spoke up, sensing his daughter was overwhelmed and needed the focus shifted away from her, "Jo had been going crazy all that winter, feeling trapped in the house. She...was..a workaholic, just like Katie. As soon as it was warm enough to do so, she would bundle Katie up and I would drop them off in Central Park to go for walks while I was in the office in the morning. The day I took this she said she'd met a little boy who'd been roughed up in the park and made me promise that we would teach Katie to stand up for herself, to be respectful and stand up for others."

"Oh my god!" Martha exclaimed, as recognition finally took hold, "Richard, that was her, I _knew _she looked familiar!"

Kate looked up at Martha at that, a shocked expression on her face, "You met my mother, Martha?"

Martha's face took an a warm, serene expression, empathy for Kate streaming out of her eyes as she recalled a long buried memory of a time in her son's life she had since wanted desperately to forget.

"Not just me, Katherine, dear, but Richard too." Martha replied. "It was shortly after he turned ten, just before I sent him off to boarding school, because the other boys in public school were so awful to him. He had wandered off from his sitter while I was in rehearsals for _Cat On A Hot Tin Roof_and been roughed up by some of them in the park. Your mother must have found him and cleaned him up, she had been mothering him when I got there. I was ashamed at how much better at that I thought she was than me."

"Johanna went back to the park every day that summer," Jim offered, "even after going back to work. She always wondered why she never saw the little boy again. For the longest time, she'd feared the worst, until the day she came home from Barnes & Noble with this."

Jim pulled a worn hardcover copy of _In A Hail of Bullets_ off the bookshelf in the corner. "She never told me in as many words, but right up until she died...she bought every one of Rick's books. Secretly, I think she was proud of your son. For making something of himself. For becoming more than that scared little boy she encountered in the park that morning. She came home almost in tears after getting it signed."

Jim looked over at Kate lovingly, meeting her eyes, "That's why I always approved of him, Katie, your mother would have secretly loved that you'd found each other after all this time."

* * *

The following afternoon  
Forest Lawn Cemetery.

Rick, Kate and Alexis stood in the small cemetery in front of the modest headstone for Johanna Beckett. The after dinner conversation the night before had made Kate decide that now was as good a time as any to "introduce" her new family to her mother. Especially now that she knew that her mother had already known Rick.

Each of them laid a bundle of flowers on her grave before Kate knelt in front of it, kissed her fingers and touched them to the raised letters of her mother's name. Knowing what she had done for Rick so long ago was like having a small piece of her back. Like Johanna Beckett had reached out from the grave to approve of her husband to be. Rick placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder as the tears welled up in her eyes and spilled over. Followed by Alexis' slender hand on her other shoulder.

"Thank you mom," she whispered, tears flowing unencumbered down her face, "if you had only known that day, that by helping him, you would one day save me after you were gone. I love you."

The End

* * *

_*Addendum* That's it, that's all you get. I have two other stories to work on before the finale. Dry your eyes. I' gotta get those done or I'll feel rushed when the Ficathon comes. Until the next time._

_As always,_

_Mark_


End file.
